Archaeopteryx
Wanderer
Religion claims to be able to do that. In my view, it does poorly.
I don't think religion necessarily does well in answering "the deeper existential needs of human beings."
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Because there are deeper levels of reality available than that which we normally experience. When people have glimpses or more profound experiences of an altered state of consciousness there is a need to make sense of it. Religion can do that.
But religion can also get in the way of further expansion and learning, hence thats why there is a huge expansion of people who identify as "spiritual and not religious". The rise of the new atheism is mainly in response to fundamentalist religion of one sort or another, religious practicioners who are relying on a one size fits all, hand me down version of reality. So education can certainly deal with some bad aspects of religion, but it won,t necessarily answer the deeper existential needs of human beings. There needs to be a growing up of religion, not an eradication and there are hopeful signs.
What do you mean "resurrect"? You were evasive and attempted to derail the thread.
The thread is actually supposed to be about why there are religious people.
It isn't supposed to be about the definition of faith, or whether or not gay is okay, or even whether abortion is a good thing.
Do you know why there are religious people?
Walk past all the placard-waving people who picket the clinic and holler "abortion is murder"? You still want to pretend that there is no attempt to impose guilt on these women?
I don't at all doubt that the situation stirs all kinds of emotions. It's complicated enough without placard-waving protestors heaping scorn on women attending a clinic.Women will tend to feel guilt about abortion whether or not they are influenced by a religious group, the only way a person could not is if they were to put themselves in emotional and mental denial. This phenomenon is well known, the only question is how religious groups choose to support women who face unwanted pregnancies.
I used to go to a church (it was a liberal, Independent Catholic parish) that refused to participate in abortion clinic protests, and was criticized by the local Roman Catholic diocese after being invited to participate, and then rebuffed, but they gave money routinely to the local crisis-pregnancy center.
I think my points above should make clear why your counter-example is erroneous, but I will provide a short answer anyway.
Such a strange statement makes me think you either haven't read the thread or haven't put much thought into it.
Women will tend to feel guilt about abortion whether or not they are influenced by a religious group, the only way a person could not is if they were to put themselves in emotional and mental denial. This phenomenon is well known, the only question is how religious groups choose to support women who face unwanted pregnancies.
I used to go to a church (it was a liberal, Independent Catholic parish) that refused to participate in abortion clinic protests, and was criticized by the local Roman Catholic diocese after being invited to participate, and then rebuffed, but they gave money routinely to the local crisis-pregnancy center.
Too many pro choice nuts seem to think women actually want to have abortions. They think it is "a simple procedure, like having a wart removed". They imagine the cool, sophisticated, woman-about-town, sauntering in, having her procedure, and walking out, with no more concern than if she'd just had a manicure.I don't at all doubt that the situation stirs all kinds of emotions. It's complicated enough without placard-waving protestors heaping scorn on women attending a clinic.
Let me ask you, do you WANT women to have guilt over abortions ? I'm not asking if they will or not, rather, do you personally desire for women to feel and have guilt over such a thing ?Too many pro choice nuts seem to think women actually want to have abortions. They think it is "a simple procedure, like having a wart removed". They imagine the cool, sophisticated, woman-about-town, sauntering in, having her procedure, and walking out, with no more concern than if she'd just had a manicure.
I assure you, that just is not true.
Most of those women are scared down to their toenails. They no more want to have the abortion than they want to go swimming in a shark infested pool.
You are NOT "empowering women". If you are "pro choice", you are doing far more harm than you could possibly realize. It's not the nasty Christians who are giving these poor women guilt complexes. It is the fact that they are consenting to the death of their baby. You can call it a "clump of cells" all you like...the pregnant woman knows that that "clump of cells" is her baby.
And how does one murder their own child, even if it is legal...without guilt?
I don't think religion necessarily does well in answering "the deeper existential needs of human beings."
And hundreds of millions of those cannot agree with each other either.Hundreds of millions of people disagree.
And hundreds of millions of those cannot agree with each other either.
Spoken like someone with a bias, no offense.I happen to be a liberal Christian (at least by the standards of this forum, in RL I am probably just moderate), which means I think those differences are largely unimportant. Most mainline Protestants and Catholics would also agree. Faith in God takes many forms, that doesn't mean that faith is fundamentally in contradiction.
Pope Benedict XVI had it right, it's a terrible thing to have a question mark at the center of your life. Faith is grounding in a way that unbelief cannot be.
There are many confessions of Christian faith, many denominations, and of course, many disagreements about largely secondary matters. The only question is who do you say Jesus is?
Do you think I am some kind of monster?Let me ask you, do you WANT women to have guilt over abortions ? I'm not asking if they will or not, rather, do you personally desire for women to feel and have guilt over such a thing ?
Too many pro choice nuts seem to think women actually want to have abortions. They think it is "a simple procedure, like having a wart removed". They imagine the cool, sophisticated, woman-about-town, sauntering in, having her procedure, and walking out, with no more concern than if she'd just had a manicure.
I assure you, that just is not true.
Most of those women are scared down to their toenails. They no more want to have the abortion than they want to go swimming in a shark infested pool.
You are NOT "empowering women". If you are "pro choice", you are doing far more harm than you could possibly realize. It's not the nasty Christians who are giving these poor women guilt complexes. It is the fact that they are consenting to the death of their baby. You can call it a "clump of cells" all you like...the pregnant woman knows that that "clump of cells" is her baby.
And how does one murder their own child, even if it is legal...without guilt?
It was a very straightforward question: do you actually want them to feel guilty ? Most of your response here doesn't directly address my question. The only part that comes close is the "What I personally desire is that there be no reason for them to feel guilt at all ..." but that is a sidestep to answering the question.Do you think I am some kind of monster?
What I personally desire is that there be no reason for them to feel guilt at all...could I do whatever I wish the most to do, I would turn back time for them. I would love to personally place their living, healthy child in their arms.
If you are asking me if I would take their guilt from them if I could, my answer would have to be that only God can do that.
I have wept my heart out with too many of them to have to answer a question like that.
Women will tend to feel guilt about abortion whether or not they are influenced by a religious group, the only way a person could not is if they were to put themselves in emotional and mental denial. This phenomenon is well known, the only question is how religious groups choose to support women who face unwanted pregnancies.
I used to go to a church (it was a liberal, Independent Catholic parish) that refused to participate in abortion clinic protests, and was criticized by the local Roman Catholic diocese after being invited to participate, and then rebuffed, but they gave money routinely to the local crisis-pregnancy center.
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